London Air Park
| London Air Park | |
|---|---|
| Summary | |
| Location | Feltham, England |
| Opened | 1917-1919; 1929-1947 |
| Coordinates | 51°26′18″N 0°23′45″W / 51.43833°N 0.39583°WCoordinates: 51°26′18″N 0°23′45″W / 51.43833°N 0.39583°W |
London Air Park, also known as Hanworth Air Park, was a grass airfield in the grounds of Hanworth Park House, operational 1917-1919 and 1929-1947. It was on the southeastern edge of Feltham, now part of the London Borough of Hounslow. In the 1930s, it was best known as a centre for private flying, society events, visits by the Graf Zeppelin airship, and for aircraft manufacture by General Aircraft Limited (GAL) 1934-1949.
Hanworth Park House was built by the Duke of St Albans to replace Old Hanworth Park which was burnt down in 1797. For remains of earlier house see remains listed in Tudor Court and Tudor Close, and Ann Stanhope. It is a two-storeys stock-brick structure and has a tall basement. Hanworth Park House has an impressive 11 French casement windows on both floors, opening on to balcony, a central open pediment (classical triangular top of facade) and a hipped slate roof, sloping down on all sides. Both floors have cast iron columns or trellis. The ground one has a central Portland stone, Doric, tetrastyle, fluted columned front porch, (a portico) with a frieze end cornice. In front, 17 wide Portland stone steps lead to the house with plain balustrades and cast iron lanterns. A rosette frieze is above the each level. The west side has a balcony on brackets to ground floor and a veranda. Inside the style is Greek stone and plaster with some later alteration. The staircase is of cast iron balusters and with a square central glazed lantern above.
At the end of 1915, the Whitehead Aircraft Co Ltd, headed by John Alexander Whitehead, manufactured six B.E.2b aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), at his small factory in Richmond, Surrey. That was followed by an order for one hundred Maurice Farman MF.11 Shorthorns. Whitehead then purchased the whole of Hanworth Park, plus an area northwest of the park. Since 1915, Hanworth Park House, in the centre of the park, was occupied by the British Red Cross for recuperation of wounded servicemen. The Longford River, flowing northwest-southeast, was partly culverted and covered, to permit aircraft to taxy over it. Large factory buildings and assembly sheds were constructed on the separate northwest site, to accommodate production of an order from Sopwith Aviation Company of Kingston upon Thames for Sopwith Pups. The original company was taken over by Whitehead Aviation Construction Co Ltd, that later became Whitehead Aircraft (1917) Ltd. The first Pups, initially built at Whitehead's Richmond works, were flown from Hanworth aerodrome in early 1917. In 1917, the aerodrome was officially designated an Aircraft Acceptance Park, a location where aircraft were finally assembled and tested before delivery to RFC squadrons. The factory employed 600 workers in 1916, and by 1918 covered 325,000 sq ft (30,200 m2). In 1917, the Whitehead Flying School was formed, using Caudron G.3s. Production of Pups ended in early 1918, when 820 had been completed. The final aircraft production was of 500 Airco D.H.9s, ending in October 1919. Whitehead offered several projected aircraft designs; a seaplane was built, but never flown.
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